How to improve her smile?

By any standards, this is a beautiful Asian girl. But she shows a gummy smile and has gaps between her upper front teeth.


A slight smile shows only gaps between her teeth.



A broader smile reveals more gums than teeth.


What would you recommend or what do you think can be done to make her even more beautiful?

Ask my dentist

Ash ask : Hi Dr Chan,

I am 54 years old. Lost most of my upper teeth save for two back molars and a canine due to extractions when I was very young. Currently using upper denture. I notice that that when I position my teeth such that the upper and lower front teeth are barely touching each other, I look fine but the moment I attempt a full bite, ie letting my upper and lower molars rest on each other, I look old with two severe lines (& folds) running down from the corners of my mouth to my jaws, and the lower portion of my face from my mouth to my chin appears to have lost much height compared with my younger days. Will asthetic dentistry or implants correct the problems so as to attain a younger appearance? Would appreciate your advice. What will be estimated cost of such procedure? Thank you.

Dr. Chan answer : Hi Ash,

The key concern here is to open up your bite. Your remaining teeth could have been shortened or moved such that when you bite all the way, your mouth becomes overclosed.

We’ll need to examine those remaining teeth to see if they are worth saving. If not, a set of full dentures will open up your bite. Bear in mind, however, that we may have to make 2 or more sets of dentures of gradually increasing height so that you can get used to your new bite.

Implants will certainly help hold your dentures, but if you have adequate ridge height, they may not be necessary.

Extractions aside, a full set of upper and lower dentures (acrylic) cost S$1200. Extractions will cost S$80 each. If the remaining teeth are not to be extracted, crowning will probably be necessary. Each porcelain fused to metal crown will set you back S$600. Then, you would also need partial dentures which will cost a little less than full dentures.

You can consider doing implants after you’ve gotten used to your new bite. To improve function and retention of your dentures, you would need 2 implants on your lower jaw and 4 on your upper. They will cost you S$3000 each.

Cost of Dental Fillings

Amalgam Fillings
Believe it or not, the amalgam filling has a more than 150 - year proven track record. It is still one of the most reliable, predictable and safe materials with which to fill a cavity.

Composite Fillings
Studies over the past thirty years have shown composite resin to be a safe restorative material. There is no scientific evidence that composites cause adverse health effects in the general population.

But Composite fillings more costly than amalgam filling because need the technique for plancing them is much more demanding and more time to place. If you are thinking to replace your old filling to composite filling, it costs $80 and above.

Change we need???

Change but no Change

The word CHANGE worked wonders for President Obama. It would only be wise for others to follow, but when the followers have very different ideas about change in mind, the results can be funny.

“CHANGE is in the air for Singapore’s political system,” reports a local a newsPAPer. ”But change must be tethered to fundamental principles — three, according to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.”

First, they must be fair to all contesting parties and “not be biased in favour of one party or the other”, said Mr Goh, ahead of details to be announced this week by the Prime Minister.

Oh, of course. We certainly wouldn’t want any changes resulting in one party controlling all the newsPAPers, the TV and radio stations. I can’t imagine what would happen if our newsPAPers become a mouthpiece for Dr Chee Soon Juan. How come this first fundamental principle sounds funny even without any input from Mr Brown?

Second, they must result in a strong, effective Government. “We do not want a system which ends up with a weak, hung Parliament. And then you have a coalition Parliament that is politically unstable for Singapore.”

Huh? Level the playing field, but we must still win all? Why can’t a coalition government be stable? Because the strong government says so?

And third, these changes must “facilitate representation for diverse views in Parliament, including views of the Opposition parties”.

But such facilitation to previously disadvantaged opposition parties may well result in a “mixed” parliament and a government that is not as “strong” as it wants to be. How should this apparent contradiction be resolved? I’m sure SM Goh and the folks with him have their plans in place. I’m just not so sure if CHANGE has any real meaning when all is said and done. Imagine saying such things to the American people in President Obama’s shoes. Why not copy all the way and promise some change we can believe?

By Dr. Chan Joon Yee.

Xiaxue's Smile

Wendy Cheng (aka Xiaxue) is probably Singapore's most popular blogger. Since she appeared before the camera, many viewers discovered that their star blogger has a gummy smile.

You can see her teeth look a bit short , when she smile is too gummy and her gums cover too much of some teeth while leaving the other the right length?
So her smile can be significantly improved with crown lenghtening.

Come to Orchard Road

It was a sad moment when my dentist sent what might be last denture case to SJ lab.

Some background info. SJ stands for Simon and Joseph. The two were formally dental technicians with the SAF. After the left the army, they decided to put their skills to good use and started a dental laboratory at Defu Lane, churning out highly economical dentures of acceptable quality. For the past 17 years at Hougang, My dentist had been sending my denture cases to SJ. They have never disappointed me. Every morning without fail, the SJ delivery man (never got his name) would ride down to the clinic on his little scooter to send or collect cases.

After the move to Orchard, my dentist still sent the denture cases to them. It was a bit inconvenient for SJ because he had to bring the cases down to Hougang for them to be collected and then bring the completed cases back from Hougang to Orchard. But with Hougang closed down, there is no more delivery and collection there.

One evening, My dentist paid a visit to SJ and spoke to Joseph about collecting cases from Orchard. There is still a demand for cheap temporary dentures at Orchard. Joseph said that he was sad to lose an old customer. But his biggest problem is that to enter the city to collect cases, whatever little profit he makes from the denture will be wiped out by parking and ERP charges.

How ridiculously obvious to some yet not to others. So what to do? He has to send the denture cases to new labs which do collect from Orchard. But many of these technicians are not familiar with my style like Simon and Joseph. What’s more, they charge a lot more. Maybe that’s to cover their ERP and parking costs. Apart from numerous phone calls from unfamiliar technicians who need clarification for my instructions, denture costs have also gone up tremendously. Can no longer afford to charge Hougang rates for my old regulars from Hougang.

We’ve been told by a wise leader to eat fish if chicken gets too expensive. Must be talking about ikan bilis as fish is always more expensive than chicken. What about dentures? If ERP charges are going to stop the cheap dental labs from coming down to Orchard, perhaps they could take the MRT? Let’s see how these wise leaders carry a few dozen stone casts and dentures down Orchard Road every day. Fish is cheap and stone casts have no weight. Which world are we living in?

My dental clinic on The Straits Times.

Today (Monday, June 1 2009) I saw my dental clinic on The Straits Times , Page C4.















I was so surprised when I saw my clinic came out on Straits Times. There's many dental clinics in Singapore, but we were so lucky was selected by them for F.O.C. advertising. Thank you so much for Straits Times.